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Anyway, the Grand National overpass: I drove it an hour ago! How awesome! It made a previously dead part of the backside of Major Blvd, and the corner at Grand National & Oakridge, relevant- by light years.

The Lexus dealership looks awesome as you head north on Major Blvd from Universal.

So, those uncivilized hanging from dental floss traffic signals are also being replaced at Kirkman & Major. It's about time too.

Fantastic.

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Now if they'll just finish the I-4 E onramp there at Kirkman. Everyday has become an adventure in H**l there. I'm not sure who is worse- the clueless tourists trying desperately to find the Turnpike (or worse, the Millenia exit) or the Martin engineers in their Acuras trying to speed ahead in the merge lane and causing a massive bottleneck when they run out of room *sigh*.

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Now if they'll just finish the I-4 E onramp there at Kirkman. Everyday has become an adventure in H**l there. I'm not sure who is worse- the clueless tourists trying desperately to find the Turnpike (or worse, the Millenia exit) or the Martin engineers in their Acuras trying to speed ahead in the merge lane and causing a massive bottleneck when they run out of room *sigh*.

Gawd I am so glad I don't have to drive down that way anymore.

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Yeah, I've started working from home 4 days a week because getting onto I4 from Kirkman has been wretched. But yeah, I drove over the new overpass a few times. So nice! First of many improvements from Ultimate.

there's a nice little cluster of development at that corner already, that's been getting more and more built up over the past five years or so, at the NE and SW of that intersection; hotels, restaurants, the WaWa, CVS?, Panera, etc. it's exploded recently with construction.

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It looks like McFadden's Irish bar and restaurant, which is closed, is going to be redeveloped into what looks to be a 5-6 story Element by Westin hotel over at I-Drive 360. This is along Universal Blvd adjacent to the garage entrance. It's on the Goodings Plaza side of the project and adjacent to the Sleuth's Mystery Dinner show. The OBJ reported.

I believe this is that project from North American properties. What really excites me about this, is that there are workers doing site work as we speak, but, when they build this out, Premium Outlets will run out of spill over parking. And, they will finally be forced to pony up and build a garage.

Edited August 17, 2017 by jrs2

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That brings back memories of Shoppers World right there on the curve that tried to compete with Belz in the early days of the outlet mall but never could. It had a 1960s look about it, even though it was built decades later.

Year after year it sat and finally was torn down, just in time for that area to boom.

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That brings back memories of Shoppers World right there on the curve that tried to compete with Belz in the early days of the outlet mall but never could. It had a 1960s look about it, even though it was built decades later.

Year after year it sat and finally was torn down, just in time for that area to boom.

I don't know if I ever went there. I always thought Belz was cool back in the day with the two buildings. It's interesting now to see what they do when they realize people can no longer park across the street.

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So, this is just west of the bridge over 528 that connects Westwood directly to the west entrance of the OCCC West Bldg. Lot of "west" in that sentence.

I wonder if they'll keep that high rise design still. I hope so.

Considering their previous design, I would hope not. It would be a shame for something like an Extended stay, which is right next door to be built. That stretch of Westwood Blvd can fit quite a few side by side high rise convention hotel. In fact, if it was up to me, I would raze all those low rise hotels from the price gouging gas station onwards........... build 5-6 tall convention hotels........... in my dreams lol.

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Considering their previous design, I would hope not. It would be a shame for something like an Extended stay, which is right next door to be built. That stretch of Westwood Blvd can fit quite a few side by side high rise convention hotel. In fact, if it was up to me, I would raze all those low rise hotels from the price gouging gas station onwards........... build 5-6 tall convention hotels........... in my dreams lol.

the link shows a 21+ story building; slim and tall; rooftop pool. is this the previous design you're talking about?

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the link shows a 21+ story building; slim and tall; rooftop pool. is this the previous design you're talking about?

yes, this was what was originally planned on universal blvd. OBJ just pulled a previous rendering. i just read my previous post and i got confused too lol. i would love for this design to follow onto westwood blvd..........

Edited August 18, 2017 by shardoon

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yes, this was what was originally planned on universal blvd. OBJ just pulled a previous rendering. i just read my previous post and i got confused too lol. i would love for this design to follow onto westwood blvd..........

They would have pseudo direct access to the OCCC via the bridge. The other location was good, distanxe-wise. it looks like this parcel is roughly the same distance to an OCCC entrance as the former location. I wonder how walking over the bridge works for conventioneers.

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They would have pseudo direct access to the OCCC via the bridge. The other location was good, distanxe-wise. it looks like this parcel is roughly the same distance to an OCCC entrance as the former location. I wonder how walking over the bridge works for conventioneers.

Although technically close by to one concourse, the other is very far away.....and even walking to the closer concourse is over a bridge and completely uncovered exposed to the elements.

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One shot is from the red light in front of Sapphire Falls. The other is from the lobby of Cabana Bay. The other is from the shuttle bus drop off for Volcano Bay which shows the far side of the tower, notably the first two tall levels on the back side.

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So apparently the city is now considering streetcar on the former maglev route... Publicly funded, slower, and not-elevated. I hope they don't do that. Might as well just stick with buses as streetcar will prevent any better system from being built. They should apologize to Globalvia for refusing to let them in the airport and ask them if there is any way to make it up to them...